When I came home from Paris yesterday, Fall was here, loud and clear…
As much as I miss Paris and OSGMOM and sis, there is something very comforting about being home and back on Canadian soil.
When I heard that we were expecting guests for dinner tonight (my brother in law Steve and his fiancée Joanne <—newly engaged!), I decided a Fall-like dinner was in order.
Oh how I missed my kitchen.
Baking. Cooking. Creating. Experimenting.
EATING MY DELICIOUS FOOD! I’m pretty sure I am going to eat myself into a food coma this week in all the excitement.
This huge CSA organic Butternut squash was the main feature…
It was a big one- about 4 pounds!
Maple Butternut Squash & Apple Casserole
Inspired by Kitchen Parade.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 pounds butternut squash, washed, peeled, chopped into 1” cubes
- 3 tbsp Earth Balance
- 1 tsp curry powder (I used Arvinda’s Garam masala)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 3 small apples, cored and chopped into cubes
- 3.5-4 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2-3 cups cooked Brown basmati rice
- 3-4 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp Sucanat or brown sugar, optional
Directions: Preheat oven to 375F. Wash squash and place in microwave on high for 3 minutes to soften. In a medium sized pot, cook the brown rice. While the rice is cooking, peel and chop approx. 1.5 pounds of butternut squash. Place into a large bowl. Add in pumpkin seeds and stir again. In a small bowl mix the melted Earth Balance, curry powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt, and 1 tbsp of pure maple syrup. Add sauce to butternut squash in the large bowl. Mix well. Pour into a large casserole dish and cover with tin foil. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes at 375F. While baking, core and chop apples. In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar. Add chopped apples and mix well. After 20 minutes, remove squash from oven and scoop on the apple mixture. Stir in the cooked brown rice. Cover with tin foil and bake another 10 minutes. Uncover the dish, stir the mixture, and sprinkle with Sucanat or brown sugar. Place into oven for another 30 minutes uncovered, stirring every 10 minutes until squash is fully cooked. Just before serving, drizzle with another tbsp of maple syrup and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Adjust seasonings if necessary and enjoy!
Butternut cheese cubes? ;)
The sauce.
I actually ended up changing the sauce significantly in the end. I doubled the quantity and I brought out the cinnamon and maple more! It was much better after the modifications. The recipe above reflects all my changes, don’t you worry.
CSA Macintosh apples! Just little guys.
The apples in this casserole were so good. Leave the skin on for extra nutrients and better texture.
and bake!
(This picture was taken before I added in the Pumpkin seeds- they were an after thought and I strongly suggest using them!)
Oh yeaaaaaa. This rocked my socks.
It screams FALL….cinnamon…maple…spice…squash…pumpkin seeds…Oh my.
I paired it with a strawberry, coconut, and Power House Glonola spinach salad.
Along with my Better than Bottled Balsamic Vinaigrette! It was lovely.
The dining area:
We had to move this shelf down from our bedroom (I will be showing you why soon, it is part of the surprise I came home to!), so I decided to put it in the kitchen and add my Crazy Dish Lady plates & bowls. ;) It won’t be here forever, but it’s fine for now.
I am off to check on the exciting things going on upstairs. Here is a hint…
Ahhh!
I made this last night and it was fantastic! Thanks for the great recipe!
Mine is in the oven and my whole house smells amazing. Can’t wait to try it!
Mmmm I made this casserole last night and also tried your amazing dressing on some spinach. Both parts of the meal were simply divine and I can’t wait to eat the leftovers! This is my very favorite casserole ever! It tastes like Fall in your mouth. =) Thanks for sharing it!
I just wanted to let you know I made the casserole last night and it was fabulous! There is plenty of leftovers and I look forward to eating again this week! SO GOOD! Thanks so much for sharing such wonderful recipes. Being a new vegan it helps out a LOT!
This was absolutely delicious and definitely one of my favourites since becoming vegan!!! I plan on serving with Thanksgiving dinner this weekend. Would it be possible to prepare a day in advance? Could I make it a day in advance and then simply reheat it in the oven?
I made this last night for my family and it turned out phenomenal! It was so easy to make, too! Thanks so much for posting :)
Just made this casserole, so delicious and dessert like! I added some golden raisins and it was so yummy! Thanks also for all of your awe inspiring recipes!
Tried this tonight with just a few tweaks. Had run out of the Basmati so used brown rice and had some wild rice already cooked just screaming from the freezer to go into this dish. Added a few more pumpkin seeds too. Loved by all… I was even thinking of having it for breakfast…
I love your blog and I’m in the process of going through your recipes. This one ended up a little sweet for me (and I did omit the sugar). It tasted a bit like breakfast, but as you said, it was a very autumn-y recipe full of warmth and spices. I think I might add less cinnamon, up the garam masala, and maybe add some sauteed onions next time in addition to cutting the amount of maple syrup. Delicious though!
Hi Angela, I made this casserole yesterday (with a few slight modifications) and featured it on my latest blog post. Check out jameepalmer.tumblr.com to see how it went (here’s a hint–delicious!) Thank you for posting this recipe, it was exactly what I needed!
Hi Angela,
This was our today’s dinner and I really liked the slightly sweet flavor-combination! Butternut is my favorite squash so far by the way :-)
I used a bit less honey (I always use honey instead of maple syrup, as there is no organic maple syrup around here in Germany) than you did, as I was not so much in a dessert-mood ;-)
Just one question: Do you have an idea where I could get more sauce from? Vegetable broth or something didn’t seem right to me…this way the rice was sightly dry, but nevertheless the smell and everything else was fantastic! Just some sauce to go from 95% great to 100% great is what I am thinking about. So, I’d be happy about a suggestion :-)
I like how you improved the spice mix from the original recipe. We used the original instructions (i.e., left out the rice), though. It was terrific for Thanksgiving. The main dish was turduken, so in the spirit of name-mooshing, we dubbed this “squapple.” Thanks for the recipe enhancements.
I may make this as a side for Christmas minus the rice, think it would work out ok?
Literally looking at this and my stomach started growling….LOUD! Oh Angela!! You are too good!!!
I replaced the rice with quinoa for protein and it turned out great! I love the sweetness mixed with the curry. However, my squash cooked faily quickly….the recommended 30 mins at the end were not really necessary
Thanks!
Totally making this for Thanksgiving! What size casserole dish works best? I’m such an amateur :-\
Just curious, how many servings does this yield? Looks delicious. Thanks!
Do you suppose I could use leftover baked butternut squash for this recipe? Maybe just throw it in the oven to rewarm?
Hello, this recipe looks amazing and I want to make it for my house this week! However, do you think I could replace the cooked rice with cooked green lentils?
What earth balance product is included in the recipe? “Butter”? I’m sure this is obvious to most but I’m a cooking/baking neophyte. Thanks a bunch! I can’t wait to try the recipe!
Yes, ‘buttery spread’
I made this tonight. It was amazing. Kid and husband friendly. My husband is very picky but he is trying to get back to a vegetarian diet. He didn’t even want to try when I described what it was, but he ate two huge plates full. He called it ‘apple pie dinner’. I didnt follow the quantities of butternut squash, apple, or rice, just kind of used what I had and added enough rice to fill. I also added some garbanzo beans for extra protein and because they are yummy. Will definitely make again. Thank you!
So delicious , I added turmeric to this recipe and it turned out perfectly, my new fav fall recipe, Thank you!
Whoops! I usually prepare all my ingredients first and then start cooking. So I had the squash peeled, chopped, and washed before I realized I was supposed to put it in there microwave first. Oh no! I really messed this up. But…. hopefully it will still be delicious.
Hi! This looks amazing. Just wondering – I don’t have a microwave so can I skip the microwaving step? Or should I roast the squash whole for a bit to soften it up? My local health food store usually sells pre cubed butternut squash, is the microwaving just to help with cutting it up?
Can you tell me how many servings this makes?
I made the casserole last night and it was so good, both warm from the oven and cold for lunch today! It wasn’t even as work-intensive as I thought it was, especially if you microwave the squash for a few minutes before peeling and if you don’t peel the apples. I used only 2 tbsp of maple syrup and no extra, which was plenty sweet enough for me. I also used a few chopped walnuts instead of pumpkin seeds. This dish is really delicious, easy, and healthy! :) Thank you for this yummy recipe!
I am a newlywed and just cooked dinner for my husband’s whole family for the first time. They are gourmet cooks so I was a little intimidated. But wow, made this as a side dish and they LOVED it! Great dish for our pre-Christmas family dinner. Great combo with the squash, sweet apples (I used one gala and one green) paired with the brown basmati rice- delicious! Thank you so much Angela!
Theres an ingredient listed here as Earth Balance. Thats a brand. What is the ingredient? I want to make this but dont know what it is!
Thanks
Hi Diane, Great question! In this case I’m referring to Earth Balance’s vegan buttery spread. :)
Delicious! I’ve made this a couple times, making a few changes. I use kabocha squash instead of butternut, and I also cut down on the earth balance a bit, using 2 tablespoons instead of three, and I also add a can of chickpeas to make it a meal.
Tastes like pure fall goodness :)
Hi! This looks so good! I would like to bring this to a pot luck. What would you recommend for re-heating? I was thinking I would cook this about an hour or two before it would be served and just need to quickly pop it in the oven at the venue to warm it back up. How long would you recommend?
Hey Joanne, Oh it’s been a long time since I’ve made this recipe so I had to take a peek at it for a refresher. I think it would need around 20 to 30 minutes reheating in the oven?
Thanks, I will give that a try!